wweuniversefandomcom-20200214-history
Aaron Stevens (wrestler)
Aaron Steven Haddad[1][5] (born August 3, 1981)[6] is an American professional wrestler. He is contracted to WWE and appears under the ring name Damien Sandow.[2] He previously appeared in WWE as Idol Stevens, and he has also competed for Ohio Valley Wrestling and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council.[7] Among other championships, he is a former FCW 15 Champion and FCW Florida Tag Team Champion with Titus O'Neil. Damien Sandow was born Aaron Steven Haddad to Middle Eastern parents of Lebanese ancestry. His surname, Haddad, is of Arab origin, meaning, "blacksmith". He was trained by the legendary Killer Kowalski. He attended Holy Name High School and Worcester State College. Stevens was trained by Chaotic Wrestling and debuted June 23, 2001 losing to Chris Harvey. Stevens formed a tag team with Edward G. Xtasy called One Night Stand and after two attempts beat Little Guido Maritato & Luis Ortiz for the Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Championship. They would lose the titles two months later to John Walters & Vince Vicallo. In the next few years before signing with WWE he had three title shots, two for the Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship and one for the Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship and would lose them all.[8] He made his World Wrestling Alliance debut on November 22 teaming with Edward G. Xtasy & Jimmy Snuka to defeat The Island Boys (Ekmo & Kimo) & Pat Piper. He would beat Danny Davis for the WWA Heavyweight Championship and would lose it to Jonah Adelman. Ohio Valley Wrestling (2002-2006) Stevens signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after receiving numerous try-out matches on Heat against opponents such as Stevie Richards, Team Angle, Johnny Nitro and Maven. He also worked an angle where he had his fingers "broken" by Raven on Heat. He later was reassigned to WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), dubbed Aaron "The Idol" Stevens. At a house show in 2004, Stevens and Nova beat Chris Cage and Tank Toland to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. On January 4, 2006, Stevens won the OVW Television Championship after replacing Ken Doane in a three-way dance with Brent Albright and then-champion CM Punk. Doane was injured halfway through the match and Stevens came out to replace him. After interference from Punk, who was eliminated earlier in the match by Albright, Stevens was able to pin Albright to win the title. At the March 8 television taping, Paul Burchill cost Stevens the Television Championship against Seth Skyfire. Smackdown 2006 On August 4, 2006, Stevens made his SmackDown! debut as "Idol Stevens" when he was introduced (along with KC James) by Michelle McCool as one of her favorite Teachers Pets. The two went on to defeat Funaki and Scotty 2 Hotty with the help of McCool. The following week, Stevens and James defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London and Brian Kendrick in a non-title match. On the August 18 show, Stevens and James ambushed the Tag Team Champions. The two teams began feuding, with London and Kendrick bringing in Ashley Massaro to counteract McCool. The feud also briefly encompassed the team of Jamie Noble and Kid Kash, who also wanted a Tag Team title shot. Stevens and James got their Tag Team Championship shot against the tandem at No Mercy on October 8, but failed to win the titles. Soon after, both Stevens and James were taken off television and sent back to Ohio Valley Wrestling. Return to WWE Florida Championship Wrestling (2010–2012) On July 14, 2010, it was reported that Stevens had signed a new developmental deal with the WWE, and changed his ring name to Damien Sandow while also adopting a new militant gimmick.On December 3, Sandow won the Florida Tag Team Championship with Titus O'Neill by defeating Xavier Woods and Mason Ryan in a match for the vacant championship. They lost the championship to Richie Steamboat and Seth Rollins on March 25, 2011. After losing the title, Sandow turned on O'Neill and joined the group formed by Lucky Cannon, Aksana and Maxine.The Intellectual Savior of the Masses (2012–present) Also In Team Rhodes Scholars On the April 6, 2012 episode of SmackDown, Sandow, while retaining his verbose intellectual gimmick, appeared in a pre-taped interview denouncing today's pop culture and extolling his virtues. After weeks of vignettes, Sandow made his WWE in-ring re-debut on the May 4 episode of SmackDown, but refused to compete in his scheduled match against Derrick Bateman, claiming that the audience would neither learn nor benefit from him facing an inferior opponent. On the May 18 episode of SmackDown, Sandow again refused to wrestle against Yoshi Tatsu but after Tatsu accused Sandow of cowardice, Sandow assaulted him. On the May 25 episode of SmackDown, Sandow defeated Tatsu decisively in his debut match. The following week, Sandow refused to face Ezekiel Jackson; despite Jackson forcing the match to begin, Sandow won the match. On the June 8 episode of SmackDown, Sandow had intentions of attacking Hornswoggle, who was mocking Jim Ross, but was intercepted by Tyson Kidd before he could do so. The following week on SmackDown, Sandow defeated Kidd in a match. On the June 29 episode of SmackDown, Sandow defeated Zack Ryder to qualify for the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank. However, he was unsuccessful as the match was won by Dolph Ziggler.At Raw 1,000, Sandow confronted D-Generation X regarding their sophomoric and disgusting behaviour which he believed had brainwashed society; Sandow also declared that he would be a martyr if DX disposed of him. Despite this, DX assaulted Sandow and laid him out. Sandow then began a feud with Brodus Clay the on July 30 episode of Raw , attacking Clay when he laughed at a video of Sandow's beatdown at the hands of DX. The following week on Raw, Sandow attacked Clay again before their scheduled match. Sandow and Clay finally faced off on the August 20 episode of Raw, where Sandow won after a roll-up but he was attacked by Clay after the match. On the August 31 episode of SmackDown Sandow had his first singles loss after being intentionally counted out against World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus. Sandow then aligned himself with Cody Rhodes, attacking WWE Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan and Kane on the September 24 episode of Raw and vowing to become the next champions. The team, known as Rhodes Scholars, were entered in a Tag Team Championship tournament four days later on SmackDown, and defeated the Usos to advance. Sandow's undefeated streak came to an end on the October 1 edition of Raw, when he was pinned by Sheamus in a singles match. The following week on Raw, Rhodes Scholars defeated Santino Marella and Zack Ryder to advance to the finals in the tournament. Rhodes Scholars ultimately defeated Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara on the October 22 episode of Raw, to win the tournament and become the number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship. Rhodes Scholars got their title opportunity against Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) at Hell in a Cell, where they won by disqualification, thus Team Hell No retained the titles. Rhodes Scholars received another shot at the WWE Tag Team Chapionship on the November 14 of WWE Main Event, but were again defeated by Team Hell No. During the match, Rhodes suffered several legitimate injuries, placing their partnership on hold.On the November 23 episode of SmackDown, Sandow unsuccessfully challenged Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Championship, his first singles title opportunity in WWE. From December 2012, Sandow begun a search for an apprentice by quizzing members of the audience. Sandow and Rhodes reunited on the December 10 episode of Raw, where they defeated Epico and Primo, Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil), and the Usos in a fatal four-way tag team elimination match to earn the right to face Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara in a number one contender Tables match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. Six days later at the pay-per-view, Team Rhodes Scholars defeated Mysterio and Sin Cara to become the number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship.